Page 30 of Velvet Deception

This was raw, unapologetic lust.

She stroked her tongue along mine, then retreated to suck mine into her mouth with just the right pressure and velvety heat that my dick twitched again under my shorts. And she knew it. She felt my erection poking at her stomach because she tilted her hips, seeking friction there.

I tore my mouth away, breathing hard and needing air.

She licked her lips, staring at me, and I knew the very second that she realized what we’d done.

We’d crossed a line, a boundary between nurse and patient. Between stranger and host. Between… victim and defender. In the name of shaking her out of that shock, I’d instigated us to fall down a spiraling path toward something closer to spontaneous intimacy.

Blinking those gorgeous green eyes, she retreated from the possibility of it. She set her teeth on her lower lip, that plump flesh I’d licked, sucked, and nipped.

One step back felt like a canyon.

The drop of her hands from my shoulders resembled forfeit.

But I had to let her take the next step.

“I…”

I shook my head, laughing once, without mirth. “No. Don’t excuse it.”

She raised her brows as a shy smile lifted her lips.

“Don’t make an excuse for that.” I cleared my throat, determined to let her show me what she wanted or needed now that the vacant gaze was gone from her eyes. I’d succeeded in surprising her, in arousing her from that damn shock, and now she’d have to let me know what came next.

Too many questions and unknowns existed in my life for me to call the shots. Too many things complicated it all.

“No excuse,” she whispered in agreement as she gestured for me to turn again. Leaning against the vanity, I sighed and willed my heart to slow. My dick to relax. My lungs to catch up.

When she picked up the scissors and once again stitched me up, I hissed and bore the pain through it. Coolness from the numbing cream helped, but the sting of the needle and the slight tugging of my skin distracted me from reaching for her again.

Don’t…

Don’t scare her.

Don’t rush her.

Just… don’t.

Being alone with her in this small room tempted me, though. Ramon was likely asleep. We had as much privacy as we likely ever could in this situation, but I wouldn’t jump headfirst into kissing her again until she could give me a signal that she wanted it. That she desired me, not as a side effect of my idea to snap her out of shock but because she simply wanted me.

“Who were they?” I asked, aware that it would be smart to talk through this than to let her sink back to the trauma poisoning her mind.

“I don’t know.” She sighed as she continued on my arm. “I don’t know their names, but I have seen them before. They came into the clinic where I work. Maybe a few times, but not in this year.”

“Hmm.”

“They came in from street fights and such. Drug withdrawal too. They were convinced I had drugs here, but I don’t. I don’t haveany narcotics or heavy painkillers. Nothing they’d want or could use to get high on or sell.”

“Why’d they think that then?”

She shrugged. “Because they know I’m a nurse. We’ve probably walked past each other at the market a couple of blocks over.”

“They seemed to know you have a son.”

She frowned, tucking the tip of her tongue on the corner of her mouth, a tell that showed she was concentrating and focusing. “Yes. I think they must have seen Ramon with me at the market or out and about. If they were who I think they were, more than a few women have had problems with them harassing them. Not that police ever do anything about it.”

“Do you think they could’ve seen you getting the drugs at the hospital?”

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